One Change in the Story
by Aingeal98
Summary: It wasn't supposed to be like this. She was only supposed to go back five minutes in time. Instead, Sakura wakes up in a dark room surrounded by people wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them. The worst part? She doesn't have a clue who she is.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This story takes place at the start of the Hidan and Kakuzu arc, after Asuma had died, but before Team 7 went to help Team 10.**

It wasn't supposed to be like this. When Naruto had asked her for help with perfecting his time-travel jutsu, Sakura had readily agreed. She was willing to help him in any way possible. He was, after all, the best way to get Sasuke back and he was also one of her closest friends. So far, all she had been able to do was give him food pills. (He ate every single one. She _knew _Sai had been faking when he had acted disgusted by them!) But now he was asking her for something much bigger.

Naruto had completed the Rasen-Shuriken a few days ago, and with nothing to do with his training time, had decided to go snooping around the Hokage building. Tsunade had kicked him out, but not before Naruto had found some interesting scrolls. As he had explained to Sakura, his time spent traveling with Jiraiya had taught him more than just new and improved Rasengan/Sexy Techniques. Jiraiya had shown him the basic formula required for writing seals. Originally, he had shown Naruto it to keep him occupied while he 'visited' the local baths. But Naruto had thrown himself into learning the kanji and symbols with such determination, that Jiraiya had ended up teaching Naruto a lot more than the basics.

The thing that Naruto liked about seals was creating his own. It gave him a chance to experiment, and he learnt best by trial-and-error. His biggest project yet was an unfinished space-time jutsu that the Fourth Hokage had been working on. He had found it when he had been mooching around the Hokage building. Naruto being Naruto, he had decided to finish it even though it shouldn't be possible. He had already done the near- impossible with his Rasen-Shuriken, and as he had shown Sakura yesterday, he had done it again.

Naruto had spent three days writing symbols onto a scroll that was big enough to list all the genin currently alive in Konoha. Once he had perfected the seal, he and Sakura had gone on a search for a small living organism. Naruto had found a slug under a tree, and after marking its exact position, had picked it up and dropped it onto the scroll.

Naruto had made a set of hand-seals, ending with the "Snake" hand-seal. The ink on the scroll glowed for a few seconds, and then the slug had disappeared. Naruto and Sakura had rushed back to the tree, and after searching for a few seconds, they had found the slug hiding amongst the roots. This was as close to proof as they were going to get, but it was enough for Sakura.

So when Naruto had started talking about improving the jutsu, Sakura had listened carefully.

"It's really easy, Sakura-chan! If I use some of the Kyuubi's chakra, I should be able to move a real person back a few minutes in time!" he had been bright eyed and animated, waving his hands around wildly to get his point across.

Then his shoulders had sagged.

"But I don't know if I could control the Kyuubi's chakra, and I wouldn't want to put anyone in danger."

The words had popped out before she had time to fully understand what she was saying.

"You could use me."

Naruto had stared at her in amazement.

"Really Sakura-chan? You trust me enough to let me send you back in time?"

_Well… not completely. _she had thought, but out loud she had said " I've seen that it works. And you'll only be sending me back a few minutes, right?"

Naruto had nodded, but had still looked troubled.

"Yeah, but, well… I don't want to lose you Sakura-chan. There's so much that could go wrong. If I send you back in time, you might not remember it. Or maybe we'll both remember. Or I could… Ugh! This time travel stuff makes my brain hurt! It's so much easier to draw seals then to think about how they work!"

Sakura had giggled slightly as Naruto clutched his head. They were on their way home from dinner at Ichiraku's with Sai. Kakashi was away on a mission, which left Yamato in charge of Team 7. As they walked along the path to Sakura's house, she had tried to convince Naruto.

"This kind of jutsu could change the shinobi world forever. You _need _to perfect it Naruto. Kakashi would be more suited for time-travel, but I'm the best you've got right now." Seeing as Naruto remained silent, she had carried on. "Look, how about tomorrow morning, we try it out? You know how to work it, so all I need to do is stand on the scroll. You send me back a few minutes, and collect important information about how the jutsu works."

Naruto had sighed.

"Fine, fine. I'll send you back in time. But if I say that it's getting too hard then we quit, ok?"

Sakura had grinned brightly and flung her arms around Naruto. They had reached her house by this stage, and she had run inside after giving a wave to the blushing boy.

The next morning, the two of them had gone down to training ground three. Sakura had stood patiently in the middle of the scroll while Naruto had fussed about the ink, the placement and the Kyuubi. Eventually, he had been satisfied, and had begun making hand-seals.

Sakura tried not to let her nerves show as Naruto went through the seals, but part of her was screaming: _What the hell are you doing? This is _Naruto! _Do you really believe that he can memorize a ton of hand-seals and then repeat them in perfect order? Run! Run while you still can!_

By the time her doubts had just about convinced her to jump off the scroll, Naruto had made the "Snake" hand-seal and the ink had started glowing. Sakura had watched as Naruto channelled his chakra around him. Soon, she could almost _see _the red glow surrounding him.

The next thing she knew, she was surrounded by white light. She expected it to last for a few seconds, but she had been stuck here for at least ten minutes.

_What the hell is going on?_

!

Kurama watched with interest as the boy started making hand-seals. Did the foolish child really expect him to just donate his chakra because the boy asked? The idea of 'rent' had lost its amusement to the fox.

The boy finished the hand-seals and began to focus his chakra. Kurama felt the strong pull, and debated what to do. He could just let the boy have some of his chakra, but where was the fun in that? No, Kurama decided to show the boy that he shouldn't play with things as complicated as time.

He let all his chakra flow into Naruto, enough to grant Kurama a slight consciousness in the jutsu. It took a few seconds for it to work, but Kurama found himself holding an orb of white light. He grinned menacingly down at it. Now who had the boy chosen as a guinea-pig?

The Kyuubi's interest perked even more as he took in the short mop of pink hair, framing the nervous looking face. Well now, this should be good.

Sakura Haruno. He knew her well. The boy had given him many chances over the years to get to know her. When they had first become a team, he had been forced to listen as she turned his container down again and again. She had been rude and obnoxious, not to mention useless. She had gotten slightly better over the years, but it still irritated him whenever he had to heal the boy after she punched him. The boy, being as foolish and idiotic as he was, had not taken the hint and left her alone, nor had he responded in kind to any one of her attacks on him. It was extremely irritating to watch him suffer so happily at her hands, without ever desiring to take revenge.

But now... now he had been presented with the opportunity to take revenge for the boy.

In Kurama's mind, there were two types of humans. There was the small group that he simply hated, and the much larger group that he utterly despised. Although he would never admit it, Naruto Uzumaki was in that first group.

And Sakura Haruno was most definitely in the second.

So he didn't hesitate before cramming as much of his chakra as he could into the glowing orb. The girl screamed as the chakra burned her, and he briefly saw the world through the boy's eyes. The boy was struggling futilely to control his chakra output, while the seals had surrounded the girl in bright orange light.

Kurama was then presented with a list of options. He had complete control over the girl's fate, other than killing her directly. How far back did he want to send her? Should he let her keep her memory? Where should he send her? When you had as much chakra as the Kyuubi, the options were endless.

Eventually, he settled on a few settings that would hopefully get her killed at the first opportunity. With one last scream and a flash of light, he felt the girl disappear from the ball of light. The boy collapsed on his knees, muttering a whispered "Sakura-chan." before falling unconscious. Kurama knew that when the boy woke up, his world would be changed forever.

He let out a low chuckle. Never let it be said that he didn't look out for his hosts.

* * *

**10 years ago. The outskirts of Amegakure.**

It was the first time in that the Akatsuki were all together, and it wasn't going well. Pein was paranoid, expecting an attack on Ame at any moment. Zetsu and his clones were patrolling the border, but that wasn't enough to satisfy him. He had sent four of his six Paths out too. When running a successful criminal organization made up of S-Rank missing-nin, you could never be too careful. While his Deva Path and his Asura Path stayed behind at the base, his other four Paths were searching the border for any traces of infiltration.

Seeing through six different bodies was a unique experience, one that took practise to get used to. Even now, Pein preferred to use only one body at a time, but that wouldn't work today.

He let the four paths continue their search, and pushed most of his consciousness into Yahiko's body. The Deva Path was standing regally at the head of the large chamber, Konan at his side. The Asura Path was skulking in the shadows, waiting for any trouble from the members.

Pein let his eyes scan over all the members of Akatsuki. Konan was, as usual, by his side, her face blank and cold. Kakuzu was standing alone. His partner, Nadare, was cowering fearfully in a corner. For a second, Pein almost pitied him. Nadare was never meant as anything more than a sacrifice. He was talented, but not talented enough. Sooner or later, Kakuzu would kill him.

His eyes moved to the other corner, where Orochimaru and Sasori were in deep discussion. Now there was a partnership that actually worked. Orochimaru and Sasori both were interested in immortality, and their fighting styles complemented each other. Pein doubted that either of them would die soon.

He noticed a lone Zetsu peering out of a wall. He ignored it. Zetsu was loyal, and had his uses. There was no need to be concerned over him.

Finally, he looked at the last two members. Kisame Hoshigaki was a terrifying sight to behold. As well as his looks, he had a brutish mind, and would chop off his comrade's head if it benefited the mission. Pein needed a very powerful shinobi to complement Kisame, but unfortunately, he hadn't found one strong enough yet. Until then, Aoi Yakushi would have to do. The man was a strong jonin, and it was a shame to waste his potential. Pein estimated that he would last a year, maybe a year and a half, before he died. Pein knew that his sacrifice would not be in vain.

Every day they got closer to achieving their goal. Little by little, they would build up their ranks until they were strong enough to strike. When they were ready, their true mission would begin…

Pein was jolted out of his thoughts as his Human Path sent out a mild signal into his brain. He transferred his consciousness over to it, wondering what had alarmed it.

As soon as he was fully aware of the Human Path's surroundings, he noticed what was wrong. Up ahead, through the thick rain he could sense a shinobi. Its chakra pattern was unfamiliar, and it had the reserves of a jonin. Pein was confident in his ability to bring it down.

He moved closer towards the shadowy figure. He expected it to leap at him in attack, or run away in terror. Instead, the figure crumpled to the ground.

Pein stopped walking. Could it be a trap? Perhaps. Pein was confident in his ability to beat any shinobi or weapon, even with just one path, so he kept walking.

If the figure's falling had startled Pein, it was nothing compared to the shock he had when he finally saw the person. It was merely a child!

The child was definitely not from Ame. It was a young girl, around five years old. She was dressed in civilian clothing, with short _pink _hair that covered her forehead. If this had been an ordinary child, the hair colour alone would have made her stand out. But that was not what grabbed Pein's attention.

He was able to sense how strong her chakra pattern was, even though she was clearly unconscious. She had enough chakra in her body for an adult jonin, and from the way it was moving along her chakra pathways she was clearly skilled at using it. This puzzled Pein. No girl this young should be this skilled, not even a prodigy like the Uchiha boy Pein's spies had reported on. From the descriptions his spies gave him, this girl wasn't a jinchuriki either.

He debated what to do with her. Pein was not a rash man, and he understood the importance of information. He could use the Human Path's powers to suck the girl's memories out of her, but that would kill her. He had no problem with killing a child if it helped further his goal, but he knew that this child could perhaps have more uses. A shinobi this valuable would be quite good bait, but her village wouldn't come looking for her if she was dead. He had heard no rumours about this girl from any of the Hidden Villages. If he could find out where she was from and how she had gotten this powerful, he could exploit that. Perhaps there were more children like her out there. If so, then he would need as much information as possible.

He picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. Although there was chakra running through his Paths, they were still dead bodies. It took a lot of power for them to feel anything; therefore the child's weight didn't hinder him in the slightest.

He took off through the rain, heading back to the base. As he ran, he thought more about the child slung over his shoulder. Who was she? He hadn't sensed any other chakra patterns in the area, so the child had definitely been alone. Perhaps she was part of an elaborate infiltration ploy. Some village had known that a child this strong would catch Pein's interest, and had deliberately left her out so that he would find her and bring her to the base…

That thought alone almost made him drop the girl onto the ground and leave her to die. But he knew that he had no proof about anything, and that the only place with equipment for testing this girl was his main tower. He would bring her back, summon Konan and perhaps another member and then he would run tests on her body until she woke up. Then the proper interrogation would begin.

Pein had known that bringing all the Akatsuki together would result in an interesting day, but this discovery was not something he had expected. Perhaps this child was nothing special, and if so he could kill her or throw her out of the village to fend for herself. Perhaps this child would be his downfall, leading a group of shinobi straight to the Akatsuki. If so then his plans would be set back slightly.

But perhaps this child would become a valuable asset, and as he felt her chakra flow strongly through her body, he knew that it was worth the risk.


	2. Chapter 2

She awoke to the sound of people muttering in monotone voices. Her eyes fluttered open, but she shut them quickly. Her head was pounding, and she didn't know why.

She kept her eyes closed as she focused on her other senses. Wherever she was, it was cold. Not breezy cold like outdoors, but cold like a fridge. _What was a fridge?_ she wondered. The air smelled slightly musty, which made her even surer that she wasn't outside.

Next, she focused on what she could feel. She was lying on something cold and hard. Her wrists and ankles had more of the cold, hard thing wrapped around it. _Probably metal._ she thought. She could hear people muttering, and occasionally she picked up a faint swishing sound, like a piece of fabric rustling. There were strange probably-metal things sticking out of her arms. They didn't hurt her unless she moved her arms slightly. She could feel her hair, stopping just above her shoulders. It covered her forehead too.

Where was she? She tried to think back. How did she get here? Why was she unconscious?

She came up blank.

She began to panic slightly. Who were these people? Did she know them? _Should _she know them?

Blank.

What age was she? What was her name? What did she look like?

Blank.

Who was she?

Again, she came up blank.

She tried to stop panicking, but it was hard. Maybe if she opened her eyes and looked around, it would trigger something.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. She kept them half-shut so that it wouldn't be so obvious that she was awake. She couldn't trust anyone until she remembered who she was.

She looked straight down, to see what she looked like. She was short, probably around four to six years old. She was wearing a long-sleeved beige top, with a sleeve-less brown jacket over it. The words to describe her clothes popped into her head, without her remembering how she knew these things. She just did. Her trousers were grey, and her shoes-_sandals _her mind corrected- were brown. She had no idea what her face looked like, and she didn't dare move her head to see her hair.

Her eyes drifted upwards to stare at the ceiling. It was made of stone, and there was a small light coming from somewhere she couldn't see. It was too dark to make out the distinct colour of the ceiling.

Her eyes looked to the right. There was nothing there but a dark, stone wall. Her hand was bound to the metal board she was on, and there were needles with tubes in them coming out of her skin. There was a light blue sludgy liquid in some of the tubes, while others had red liquid in them. _Chakra and blood, _her mind informed her. Blood was an easy word, she knew what it meant. Chakra was harder, she wasn't sure what it was, and thinking about it made her headache worse.

She strained her eyes to the right, where the voices were coming from. There were a lot of shadows, but she could vaguely make out three shapes. Two looked like people, and one looked like… she didn't know the right word to describe it.

One of the people-shaped figures shifted slightly, and some of the shadows disappeared. She was able to see a black cloak, with a red shape on it. She squinted harder. It looked like… a cloud.

She froze suddenly. She didn't know why but she knew that red clouds were bad. They meant danger, and they made her panic. She needed to escape, to get away as quickly as she could. She began thrashing wildly, trying to break the metal straps pinning her wrists and ankles down.

The three shapes noticed her at once. They moved closer, which made her struggle harder. She didn't want them any closer to her.

"She's awake." the small shape that didn't look like a person spoke. Its voice was gruff and it growled every word out.

She turned her head fully now, to look at these shapes. The one who had spoken was closest. Its body was short and hunched, and its cloak covered its legs, so she didn't know how much legs and arms it had. Its head was bald, except for a few greasy strands that were slicked back against its head. Something told her that this person wasn't normal looking. Its head seemed fine-_human,_ her mind told her- but it's body was strange. A new word popped into her head-_Monster._

Her eyes travelled up the cloak of the one beside it. This one had orange hair and was definitely a man, although it looked a bit like a monster too. It had lots of metal sticking out of its body, and its eyes were creepy. They were ringed and purple, and they gazed at her with no emotion. Still, something about this man radiated power and fear. She quickly turned to glance at the third cloak. This one was a woman, and didn't look at all like a monster. It wore the same cloak as the other two, and its only piercing that she could see was on its chin. Its (she still wasn't sure if they were human) eyes weren't as cold as the purple ones, but they were also empty of emotion. When it spoke, its voice was a monotone.

"What should we do with her?" it asked. She wasn't sure which one of the other two it was addressing, but the answer became clear when the one with the purple eyes spoke.

"Release her." it said.

She felt the restraints loosen, and she rolled over off the board and onto the ground. She looked around wildly for something she could use to defend herself. Her eye fell on a black dagger lying discarded on the ground. The edges didn't look too sharp but the tip was very pointy. There was a ring attached to the pommel. Her mind bombarded her with various uses for this weapon, but the main thing that she got was its name. _A kunai. _

She darted over and grabbed it, before swivelling around to face the… What were they? She decided that the woman and the orange-haired man were human, and the other one was a possible human. There was something off about the two men, but she didn't have time to think about that.

She analysed them quickly. They were all much bigger and stronger than her. She didn't know how to feel about the woman. The man with the purple eyes was definitely the most powerful of the three. She just knew it. If she wanted to win this fight, she should attack him first.

But then her eyes drifted to the short one and suddenly she knew that she was going to attack him first. She didn't know why, but her instincts were screaming at her that he needed to go. She ran straight at him, kunai in hand. Holding it felt natural, the proper grip came to her without any need to think about it. Her mind told her to hit him on the head, and that he would shatter. She had no time to wonder about this information because a tail flicked out from his rear. It was a long tail, as quick as a scorpion's. She didn't know how she managed to dodge it in time, but she did it anyway. She saw the shock in his eyes when he realised that he hadn't stopped her. She got closer and drew back her hand, forming a fist. She could feel a strange sort of energy running through her, and focused it into her fist.

Just as she was about to punch him in the head, something slammed into her like a wall of pure force.

"Shinra Tensei."

Her body was pressed against the cold stone wall, and no matter how much she struggled, she couldn't move. She looked at the orange-haired man. His hand was extended, and pulsing waves of power were coming out of his palm. As long as he kept doing that, she didn't have a chance.

She let her body go limp, watching fearfully as the man drew closer. He stared at her with his cold purple eyes.

"That was… impressive." he said, his voice as monotonous as the woman's.

Behind him, she heard the small man growl.

"It wasn't that impressive. The brat's got moves but my spies say that the Uchiha-"

"She was one second away from shattering your puppet body, Sasori. Tell me how many people you know that can do that? And don't tell me that she caught you by surprise, you puppeteers are supposed to have brilliant reflexes." the woman left no room for argument.

She looked at the small one again. So his name was Sasori. No wonder he looked so strange, he was a puppet! A small shiver went down her spine. For some reason, she knew that she didn't like puppets.

The purple eyed man was still staring at her, and she realised that his eyes didn't blink.

"Who are you?" he said coldly. "Where are you from? How did you get those skills?"

"I don't know!" she squeaked, surprised at how shrill her voice was.

His expression didn't change, but suddenly the pressure increased. She squirmed slightly, but it only made the pressure worse.

"Tell me. Now."

She began to cry. Now that she was completely at their mercy, she was terrified. They were scaring her, and she didn't like to be scared. She wanted to leave. She wanted to pretend that it was all a bad dream and that she would wake up and remember who she was. But the crushing pain as the man increased the pressure assured her that this was real.

"I don't know!" she screamed. "Please! Stop hurting me! I'm sorry for attacking you, but I don't know who you are! I don't know how I got here and I don't know who I am!"

The pressure lessened.

"What do you remember?" the woman asked.

She screwed up her face, aware that if the man wasn't satisfied, he could hurt her again. She tried desperately to think, but the only thing she could remember was waking up here.

"All I remember is waking up here and seeing those needles in my arm." she said, sniffling slightly. "I looked over and saw your cloaks, and they made me want to run away. I don't know why I didn't like them, they just scared me. That's why I tried to attack you; I was trying to get away."

"To go home?" the woman asked.

She shook her head.

"I don't have a home. I can't remember one. I don't have a name either, or a family. I don't really have anything."

The woman frowned slightly, but said nothing. It was the purple eyed man who spoke.

"I do believe that she is telling the truth about her amnesia. Perhaps her village made it so that she would remember everything when they met her again. That means that she is most likely a spy."

She knew that being a spy was a bad thing, and that spies got in trouble if they were caught. If she really was a spy, and she was caught, then these people would be angry with her. The man didn't look angry though, and she didn't remember anything about being a spy, so she spoke up.

"I don't think I'm a spy." she said, trying not to whimper when they all stared at her, "I don't remember anything about being a spy. But I don't really remember anything at all, so maybe I am and I just don't know it. But I think I'd be a stupid spy, because I don't know who I'm spying for."

They kept staring at her, and she waited for the man to increase the pressure. Instead, he let it go and she dropped to the ground. She didn't try and get back up and fight, because she knew that she would lose. It would only make them angry at her.

She looked down at her arm. She had scraped it against the wall, and it was bleeding. It hurt, and she wanted it to stop. She brought her hand up to clutch at the wound. At first, she just held it tightly, but then it started to burn. She needed to cool it down.

She felt the energy flow through her again, except it was colder this time, not bubbly and fiery. She let it seep out of her hand and cover the cut. The pain eased as the energy soothed it. She smiled slightly. Somehow, she knew exactly what to do. She could feel the skin knit back together and the blood cells created a covering to stop the flow of blood. She knew that she was the one doing it; she just didn't know how she was doing it, or why she _could _do it. Maybe these people could do it too?

One look at their faces convinced her that no, healing wasn't something that everyone could do.

"Konan," the leader spoke again, although there was a strained edge to his voice that made her worry. "Interrogate her about this. I don't want to see her again until I have all the information. Sasori, let's get back to the others. Once we know more about her we shall decide what to do with her."

She didn't like the way he phrased that last part, but she didn't understand what she was doing wrong. Everything was so confusing. Her head hurt, and these people scared her, and she didn't know what she was supposed to do. The question that kept ringing through her head was: _Who are you?_ She wasn't sure if she was asking these people who they were, or asking herself who she was. Either way, she wasn't getting an answer.

The men filed out of the room, leaving the woman alone with her. For a brief second, she thought about making a run for the door. But one look at the woman's face convinced her to stay put. The woman-Konan- didn't have the same aura of fear that the other two had, but Konan had her own way of scaring you. Somehow, she knew that Konan wouldn't hesitate to kill her if the leader ordered. Perhaps Konan would regret it later, but she would still do it.

"Let's start with the basics." Konan said. "What's your name?"

She frowned in confusion. Hadn't she already been asked this?

"I don't know." she said sadly. "I don't even know what my face looks like."

Her hair! She could see her hair now! Slowly, she pulled a strand of hair out in front of her eyes.

Pink? She had pink hair? Was that normal? Konan had bright blue hair, and the leader had orange hair, so maybe pink hair was normal. Maybe she came from a place where everyone had pink hair. Either way, pink was a nice colour, she decided.

She remembered that she was being interrogated, and focused back on what Konan was saying.

"I'll get you a mirror and let you see for yourself what you look like. Maybe it'll trigger something. Hope that it will, because Nagato won't be happy if he doesn't find out anything about you."

"'I'm not a spy." she whispered. The more she thought about it, the surer she was that she wasn't here to cause trouble for these people. They were all too strong for her, and there was a good chance she would die. She almost cried at that, because even though she had no memories past five minutes ago, she didn't want to die. At the very least, she wanted to discover why she was like this before they killed her.

She realised something else.

"Who's Nagato?" she asked, but Konan had already left to get a mirror.

Once again, she considered making a run for it. No one was watching her, and she could probably escape out the door. But she had no idea where she was, and no idea what was outside that door. Besides, where would she go? She didn't have anywhere to escape to.

By the time she had finished debating the pros and cons of attempting an escape, Konan had already returned with the mirror. It was plonked down in front of her, and then Konan stepped back.

"There." she said, "Take a good look. See if you can remember anything."

She looked hard. She was short, only going up to Konan's thigh. Her pink hair was messy, stopping just before the bottom of her neck. It also covered her forehead. Her eyes were big and green, and her skin was white-ish. _Pale_ her brain informed her. That was another thing that kept confusing her: the way her brain kept spewing out big fancy words. But she went with it for now. Her clothes were plain, all in dull colours like brown and grey. She was glad for that-she was already too bright.

She finished looking at herself and looked up at Konan curiously. Konan looked back at her expectantly.

"Well?" she asked, "Do you remember?"

She shook her head sadly. She was scared what they would do to her for not remembering, but she was also sad because she herself really wanted to remember. At the very least, she wanted a name.

"Nothing's happening." she said. "It's like I'm seeing myself for the first time. Which, in a way, I am."

Konan sighed. She pulled the mirror away and sat down on the ground, indicating to her to do the same.

"For now, I'm going to call you Pink. It'll make this thing easier until you remember your name."

She nodded. Pink. She would be Pink.

Konan started the interrogation.

"So you have no memories about your life past when you woke up, correct?"

She nodded.

"I don't remember anything. My brain keeps giving me information, like where to hit that puppet, or what that dagger is called, but I don't know where I'm getting it from. When my brain tells me something, it does it through words, not images. Most of the time, I know what the words mean, but sometimes they don't click. The word chakra didn't click at first."

Konan listened intently as she explained. She didn't say a word until Pink was finished.

"Let's talk about that fight. You rolled off that bed and the first thing you did was reach for a kunai. Why was that?"

She answered quickly.

"To protect myself. I was scared of you."

"Why? We haven't done anything to you. We were just talking."

"I saw your cloaks, and they scared me. But not the scared where you want to run away, the scared where you want to fight until the scary thing can't hurt you anymore."

"Why did our cloaks scare you?"

"Because… I don't know. They just did. I saw them and it was like when my brain tells me big words, except this time it didn't tell me, it made me feel it."

Konan nodded as if everything she had said had made perfect sense. Pink knew that she wasn't explaining everything properly, but she was still adjusting to waking up in this world without any previous memories. She was going by instincts and messages from her brain alone.

"So how did you manage to push a ton of chakra into your hand? It takes a lot of skill to have that much control, do you have any idea how you did it?"

She shook her head.

"Not really. I just felt the energy buzzing inside me. I wanted to make the punch stronger, so I focused on pushing the energy into my hand. It sounds fancy but it was really instinct."

Konan gave a small sigh, which made Pink worry. People sighed when things went wrong, or when they were sad. This much she knew.

Konan looked at her, as if she was trying to figure out if Pink was lying. Pink knew that lying wasn't the right thing to do around these people. They were too scary.

"What about your medical ninjutsu? I'm no expert, but you have to know what the parts of your body are if you want to heal them."

Pink nodded quickly.

"I didn't know how to heal it until I wanted it to stop hurting. The minute that green energy came out I suddenly knew how to heal the cut. I can still sort of remember it, but not as clearly as I did at that moment."

Konan's face never lost its blank expression. Pink wished that Konan would smile or frown, so that she would know if she was answering right.

"So you're saying that you didn't know any medical jargon until you began to heal your arm? Then it all popped into your head, right?"

Pink nodded, relieved that she had been understood.

Konan looked at her thoughtfully.

"Tell me, how would you fix a broken bone in, say, your finger?"

Pink blinked. Maybe she hadn't been understood after all.

"I don't know. I don't even know what the bones in my fingers are called."

Konan nodded again, and Pink knew that she had been expecting that answer. For some reason, this scared her.

Quick as a flash, Konan reached forward and snapped Pink's right index finger. One second of shock was all she had before her finger exploded with pain. She screamed and pulled her finger back, before curling into a ball and sobbing. This pain burnt much, much worse than the small cut. This pain throbbed, and it made her want to scream and scream.

Konan watched her scream without showing a single emotion. She just stared at Pink, waiting for her to calm down.

Eventually, Pink adjusted slightly to the pain in her finger. It hurt just as bad as five minutes ago, but she was now able to function slightly without the pain overwhelming everything. She looked up at Konan through her tears, wondering why she had done that. Konan stared back at her blankly.

"Fix it." she said. "Fix your finger."

"I don't know how!" Pink screamed. She sobbed once and clutched her finger harder. Konan began to look slightly uncomfortable with the sobbing child.

"Just use your instinct. Make the pain go away."

Pink knew that Konan was trying to help, so she focused on the bubbly energy centred in her stomach. Once she connected with it, it was easy to push it into her left hand. The green glow surrounded her hand and finger, and the pain began to ease. This time it was harder than the cut, because her head hurt more from all the directions her brain was giving.

"What are you doing?"

She snapped her head up to look at Konan. She was staring down at Pink impatiently. The question registered a second after her mouth opened.

"I'm clotting the blood cells from the burst vessels into a fracture hematoma to stabilize the bone and keep both pieces lined up for mending. I've finished that, so now I'm-"

She clapped her hands over her mouth after realising what she was saying.

"I'm sorry! I swear! I didn't know what to do five seconds ago! It just popped into my brain when I started healing. Please, I'm not lying!"

"I believe you." Konan said wearily. "Just stop screaming. I expected this result, so you're not in trouble."

Once that danger was out of the way, Pink became curious.

"Do you know how it works? Are there other people who have words suddenly pop into their heads?"

Konan shook her head.

"As far as we know, you are the only one. My main theory would be that you possessed this information before you lost your memory. Now you can access it, but don't know why you have it. This would make sense, except for your age."

She saw Pink's puzzled look and continued.

"You are phenomenally strong for a five year old. No child this young, no matter how talented, should have as much power as you do. You are at the level of an adult jonin. Normally, I would think that someone had used some insane jutsu to pump you full of chakra, but that too doesn't add up. If you had been given all this chakra from an outside source, then you wouldn't have much control. Instead, your chakra control is the best I've ever seen, and the tests show that your chakra pathways have been regularly active."

She noticed Pink's blank face and sighed, realizing that the child hadn't understood half of what she had said.

"Basically, your special and we don't know why. So we're trying to figure it out, but so far…"

"I'm sorry." Pink stammered at once.

She was still terrified by these people, even as she got to know a bit about them. Every time she felt slightly at ease around Konan, she would notice the cloak and her fear would come back. Konan didn't seem to care. To be honest, she didn't seem to care about anything. Pink wondered why she was with these people in the first place.

"What do I do now?" she asked.

Konan's forehead creased slightly, the only indication of how she was feeling.

"I'm not sure." she admitted, "All the evidence points to you either being an undercover spy, or a member of an elite group of shinobi who lost her memory in an accident."

"Isn't there any way for me to get my memories back?"

Konan shrugged slightly, and Pink got the impression that if the orange-haired man hadn't ordered her to, Konan wouldn't be helping her at all. None of these people seemed to care about her; all they were worried about was if she was a threat. She couldn't trust any of them.

Konan stared at her for a minute or two, until Pink started to feel uncomfortable. She opened her mouth to say something, but Konan interrupted her.

"Look child, if I can't prove that you're not a spy than Nagato will most likely kill you. So try thinking of something that will prove you're not an enemy."

"Is Nagato the other man that was in the room?"

Konan nodded, and for a second her eyes showed a slight bit of emotion. But it disappeared before Pink could understand it.

"Yes, but I'm the only one who is allowed call him that. His official name is Pein, but don't call him that either. If you meet anyone in a black cloak with red clouds, call him sir. Got it?"

Pink nodded quickly. This was all making her more nervous. It seemed like if she made one wrong move, it would make one of these cloaked strangers kill her.

"Now," said Konan "I think I have a way to prove that you're not a spy. If you were sent here to infiltrate the organisation, but don't have any memories, whoever sent you would have to leave a trigger on your body, so when you meet with them again they can give you your memories back. Otherwise, there would be no way to make you go back to them, short of breaking into our village and stealing you from under our noses."

"What kind of trigger?" Pink asked.

"I'm not completely sure, but it's probably a seal of some sort. It could be hidden anywhere on your body, which means that I'll have to search you. If we find a seal, perhaps we can find some way to destroy it, and if we don't find a seal then the chances of you being a spy decreases. It should be enough to satisfy Nagato."

Pink nodded. If it would improve her chances of staying alive, she would gladly allow herself to be searched.

Konan stared down at her emotionlessly.

"You need to take all your clothes off so that I can look everywhere. You might feel uncomfortable but it's either this or death."

Pink frowned. Should she feel uncomfortable? Seeing her naked clearly wasn't a big thing for Konan, so why should it bother her either? Maybe it was another thing that most people wouldn't consider normal, but Pink couldn't remember any of her interactions with other people, so she had no idea what the world thought about these things. So far, her world consisted of this room, Konan, Sasori and Nagato.

It took fifteen minutes for Konan to search her, but the result was positive. There were no seals or possible triggers hidden on her body. Pink relaxed slightly after hearing that. For the moment, she was safer than she had been since waking up.

"What happens now?" she asked.

Konan faced her coldly. There was no harshness to her words, but there was no comfort either.

"I'll tell Nagato what I've uncovered. It should be enough to keep you alive. I don't know what he'll decide to do with you now, but I doubt he'll kill you. You stay here and don't leave this room. There's a bathroom over there, but that's the only place you're allowed go. If you don't want to die don't try and escape."

With that, she turned and left the room, leaving Pink with nothing to do but worry about her fate.


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't hard for Konan to find Nagato, there were six of him after all. Also, she was quite certain that Pein kept tabs on her at all times. The minute she left the room, he knew about it. Perhaps she should have cared about that, but she didn't. It wasn't like she had any secrets to keep from him.

She met the Deva Path in the corridor and he guided her into one of the empty rooms. Most rooms on the higher levels of the building had giant windows, and this one was no exception. The sound of Nagato's rain echoed through the room as well as the hustle and bustle of the villagers going about their business.

There was no danger of them being overheard. The only people who were in this building were the Akatsuki, and none of them would have left the meeting room. If they had, either Zetsu or Pein's Asura Path would have noticed. Even Zetsu himself couldn't leave the room without Pein noticing.

"What did you learn?" Pein asked

Konan was used to this behaviour. Neither she nor Nagato made small talk anymore. They both knew each other too well to bother.

"She knows things, but it's impossible for her to access the information without it being necessary in that current moment. She didn't know how to heal her finger until I broke it, then the information came into her head. A minute later, it was mostly gone."

Yahiko's face gave nothing away as he stared down at her. _Why would it?_ Konan thought bitterly. _It's nothing but a dead body. _She never voiced these thoughts out loud, knowing that they were pointless. Yahiko's death had changed everything and Nagato knew this as much as she did. She didn't need to burden him with irrelevant moments of grief.

"What of her personal memories? Can she access them?"

Konan shook her head.

"No. She doesn't remember anything about her past. She looked into a mirror and it didn't trigger anything. I've checked her body for seals but there are none. It's highly unlikely that her memories will come back, and considering her age if they do come back in a few years the time period would have erased most of them anyway. She might remember a few memories if she accidentally finds her home, but not enough to grow a big attachment to it. In short, there's hardly any fear of her leaking information about us to an enemy. She wasn't sent here to infiltrate the Akatsuki."

"Then why is she here? How is she so skilled as a shinobi? If she belonged to one of the Hidden Villages surely we would have heard something about her? "

"Perhaps she is just a special case. Do you remember the information we got about Danzo's ROOT? She could be an elite member of a group like that. Or perhaps she is a natural prodigy like the Hatake boy that the village wanted to keep secret."

"No." Pein replied "Our spies say that it takes years for Danzo to train his ROOT members to this girl's standard, and if she was a normal shinobi like Hatake then surely we would have noticed her in a Chunin Exam?"

"That's all I can think of." Konan said "We don't know how she lost her memory, but I suspect that it was an accident. Perhaps a secret mission or training went wrong. Either way, she's here now and wherever she came from can't get her back. She's stuck like this."

"True, but for how long?"

"That depends," Konan said carefully, "What do you plan to do with her?"

Pein didn't reply, and Konan was unable to guess what he was thinking. His eyes were guarded, as if he didn't want her to try at all. Normally she could read his mood through his Deva Path, but whatever he was thinking of now he didn't want her to know.

Finally, he seemed to come to a conclusion within his thoughts.

"So she has no memory whatsoever, including morals that her parents or guardians might have given her, correct?"

"I can't be completely certain on that." Konan replied, "She said that red clouds scared her, which is why she tried to fight us. If she is from a neighbouring land, it stands to reason that she might have heard of us and is fearful of us. Perhaps vague non-jutsu related instincts also remain behind, but if they do they seem to be a lot weaker than her chakra related instincts."

"I see." said Pein. He seemed to think for a bit longer before continuing. "So she is a young girl with no identity and programmed with enough skills to pass a Jonin Exam, correct? I believe that I can work with that."

"How so?" Konan asked.

"If she had memories, I could convince her that her family had abandoned her, and by treating her well I could make her loyal to us. But in her current state she has no memories, which means she has no idea how people treat each other. Whatever way we treat her, she will accept it as normal."

"What are you planning Nagato?" Konan asked sharply. She wasn't completely comfortable with his talk about manipulating a young girl's emotions, but she knew that she would do whatever he asked of her.

"I will turn her into a weapon." he announced, "I will train her so that she will not think for herself. I will make her believe that she exists only to serve me."

"Why?" Konan asked, a note of incredulously slipping into her voice.

"I have been given the opportunity." he replied "It takes years for Danzo to strip ROOT of their free will and gain their loyalty. All shinobi are supposed to be merely tools to protect their villages, but most of them cannot reach their full potential because they have people they love that cloud their judgement. Even Danzo's shinobi carry the memories of their childhood, and some part of them will always think for themselves. But this girl has no memories, which means that in a matter of months we can achieve the level of control that takes ROOT years."

"Nagato," Konan whispered, "You know what kind of man Danzo is. Do you really want to become like him?"

"I am nothing like Danzo." Pein said sharply "Danzo deliberately took children from their families all so that he would have his own army. Why? So he could grow more powerful. I, on the other hand, did not kidnap this child away from her loving family. Fate presented her to me, and I am merely choosing the most useful path she could take. Why? So that it will help with the cause, and we will be one step closer to world peace. Danzo trains his children to be useful to him, while I will train this child to help bring peace to the world. There is quite a difference."

Konan still didn't fully feel right about this, and she knew that Nagato could sense that.

"Don't think too hard about this. All I'm doing is gratefully using a gift that has been given to me. It's not like this girl truly matters anyway. Yahiko's dream of peace is the only thing that matters, and if this girl will give us even the slightest advantage, then we would be fools not to use her. Having a living weapon will be very useful, particularly whenever Madara comes. I still don't fully trust him."

"Very well." Konan said. Her eyes strayed up to meet Nagato's purple ones. "But Nagato, what will this girl mean to you?"

Nagato stared back at her calmly.

"She will be nothing more than a pet project. If her training takes too long and she becomes a hindrance, then I will dispose of her. Do not worry about growing an attachment to her, I will ensure that she doesn't feel anything towards anyone."

"Other than you."

"She will feel loyalty, devotion and commitment to me, yes." he agreed "But that is it."

They lapsed into an uneasy silence. Konan was still filled with doubts, but there was no point voicing them to Nagato. Once he had decided something, he rarely changed his mind.

"Have you given her a name?" Pein asked.

"Not quite." Konan answered. "I decided to call her Pink during the interrogation, but she has no official name."

"I see." Pein mulled it over in silence for a few seconds. "She can't be Pink. That word could come up in a conversation and confuse us. However, I agree that she should be named after her hair. It will make it easier for me to remember her name when I address her."

Konan waited patiently for him to finish.

"We will name her Sakura. It's common enough not to draw suspicion, it's easy to remember because of her hair, and we can always distinguish the name from the object by putting the word tree after it when referring to the object."

"I will inform her of her name as soon as possible." Konan promised "But Nagato, when will you talk to her?"

He turned around and walked to the large window. Konan wasn't sure what he saw when he looked outside. Perhaps he was relieving memories of dropping out the window alongside Yahiko. This place had been one of their main bases back when the Akatsuki was starting to grow.

"I will talk to her whenever I have the time." he said "Until then, tell Sakura her name and lock her in one of the rooms with a bathroom and some form of bedding. Make sure that there are no windows. For now, the less she knows about the world the better. Once you've done that, go to the Torture and Interrogation Office, and tell Baiu that I have a new assignment for him."

Konan nodded. Once it was clear that Nagato had nothing more to say, she left. She walked back the way she came, the clacking of her heels the only sound to be heard. She reached the room where she had left Sakura and paused outside to listen. It was quiet inside. She was fairly sure that Sakura hadn't managed to escape, but she could be waiting inside to attack whoever opened the door. Konan took a minute to push the chakra through her body, so that she could turn to paper in a second. Then she opened the door.

Sakura was sitting on the floor, knees tucked under her chin. She looked up fearfully at Konan when she entered, but made no move to attack her.

"Pein has reached his decision." Konan said "You're name is Sakura, and you are his weapon. You exist only to serve Pein, our leader. Do you understand?"

Sakura seemed to think this over for a minute, then she stood up.

"I don't think I want to become a weapon." she said, her voice trembling "Isn't there anything else I could do?"

Konan regarded the child coldly. It could be courage, or it could be stupidity, but she needed to get it out of Sakura's head that she had any control over her fate.

"You don't get to choose what you are Sakura. You are to become a weapon. Pein's decision is final. Follow me."

She opened the door and led Sakura to another room. The walls and floor were stone, but this room had a bed tucked into a corner, and a toilet in another corner. There were no windows, and the only light came from a flickering bulb.

"You are to stay here until Pein comes for you. Don't attempt to leave, and don't create any hassle for us. You're lucky that Pein thinks you're useful, otherwise you'd be dead. But if you push your luck, he'll change his mind. So stay put, understood?"

Sakura nodded, making her way over to the bed and sitting on it. Konan shut the door behind her and locked it. Once she was alone, she let out a sigh. It would be hard not to think about the girl, but she trusted Pein. If he thought the girl was useful, he wouldn't let her waste away in the room.

* * *

Sakura curled into a small ball on the bed, and closed her eyes. She tried falling asleep, but her mind was filled with everything Konan had said. It seemed that all her worries had doubled. She could still die, she still had no memories, and now she was to become a weapon for a man who she didn't know.

But she managed to find something good about her situation. At first, she hadn't wanted to become a weapon at all, but something Konan said before she left had struck a chord with Sakura.

_You're lucky Pein thinks you're useful._

Something about those words filled her with a happiness she couldn't explain. Even though she was worried, those words relaxed her enough to make her feel sleepy. As her eyes grew heavier and her vision grew murkier, a small smile made its way onto her face.

Maybe being a weapon wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

Amegakure's Intelligence Division was a small grey building, tucked away behind the main Akatsuki tower like it was trying to hide from the rest of the village. From the outside, it looked dreary and bleak. The inside wasn't much better. The walls and the rooms were dark and damp, with the occasional bit of dull green mold sprinkled around the place for colour.

However, seeing as the rest of the Akatsuki's buildings weren't that much better, Konan didn't really mind. In fact, the shape of the building reminded her of one of the warehouses she had lived in when she was a child. Back when Yahiko-

She stopped herself there, a small frown creasing her face. His death was always with her, like a dull ache in her chest, but she didn't normally reminisce that much about it. Maybe it was the girl that was affecting her; seeing the innocence in her eyes, and knowing that the Akatsuki was no place for a child. Konan had been forced to grow up in a horrible world, one just as dangerous as the one Sakura was living in now. It wasn't fair on the girl, but neither was life. That was what the Akatsuki was trying to change.

Or rather, that's what she and Nagato were trying to change. Madara… Konan didn't trust him. Nagato didn't seem to think he was a threat, but Nagato didn't think anything was a threat to himself nowadays. Konan trusted Nagato, and she trusted Nagato's power. But it never hurt to be prepared.

That was where Sakura would come in handy, and that was why Konan was currently stopped outside a large wooden door, with 'Torture and Interrogation Office.' written in kanji on it. The shinobi stationed outside the door bowed respectfully as he opened it up, letting her walk in.

Konan strode into the office. Immediately, all talking ceased, and the shinobi sitting around the place stood up and pretended to look busy. Konan ignored them, focusing on the man filing paperwork in the corner. He was short and plump, with a black bandana hitai-ate covering his hair.

"Baiu." she said, watching his head snap up at the mention of his name. "Our leader has a new job for you."

She could sense the uneasiness in the silence that followed. She knew full well that at least half the shinobi in the room didn't fully believe that Pein existed. It didn't matter to her. They would do their jobs, if not from belief then from fear. They knew what happened to those who opposed her. Or rather, they didn't. There one day, gone the next, never to be heard of again. That was what happened to those who questioned her authority.

Baiu was not afraid of her, which was probably why he had done so well in this line of work. Although he too had never met Pein, he was important enough to know that Pein really did exist. He was loyal, and not out of fear.

True, he was loyal because they allowed him free reign to indulge his sick fantasies when he was torturing people, but everyone had their faults. He was efficient, and really that was all Konan cared about.

She gestured for him to follow her, and they made their way down the hall and into an empty room. Once she was sure it was secure, she turned to face him.

"Pein has a new assignment for you." she informed him "There's a young girl, around four to six years old. She has no memories, but she's skilled, good enough to be a jonin. Pein wants to use her as a weapon, and he needs you to get her into the right mentality. Train her, condition her, until she can kill effectively and without remorse whenever we order her to. Strip her of her impulses, but teach her to be tactical and creative when in battle. We don't need a mindless drone, we need someone who can understand our orders, and make decisions accordingly. Above all, she must be utterly loyal to us, and she must understand her place."

"A tool." he said.

"A tool." she agreed. "Pein demands a minimum of three hours training a day. You'll be paid overtime, naturally, for every extra hour you spend with her. You will start tomorrow, however the time you start at is up to you."

He nodded, black eyes sharp and calculating.

"Where will I find her?" he asked.

"The main building, sixth floor, third door down. If anyone questions you just give them your name, and they will let you through."

He nodded again, the edges of his lips curling upwards. Konan knew that he would enjoy this. This was the kind of work he loved; playing with people's minds, twisting them into puppets. Doing it to a child? Even better.

Konan had to remind herself that his enjoyment was a good thing. If he took pride in his work, he would do it right.

She left him to mull his new assignment over. There was more work for her to do.

Once she was outside again, she tilted her head back and closed her eyes, feeling the light rain trickle gently down her face. She took a deep breath, and as she let it out, she scattered her chakra, turning her entire body into tiny paper butterflies.

Nagato thought seeing through six different bodies was difficult. Konan would like to see him try and handle her usual three hundred, never mind the thousands of sheets she used in battl . Managing each little piece of herself required immense control, but it was also freeing for her, letting all the worry, hurt and stress go and allowing herself to finally break and tear.

She sorted the butterflies into three groups, and they scattered into different directions. At this point, Konan wasn't really focused in a single group. She wasn't sure where exactly her consciousness went when she dissolved, but it was no longer in her body. She was in all her paper butterflies, and yet at the same time, she was in none of them. It was a bizarre feeling, one that took time to adjust to. Years and years of training, managing the Akatsuki and running Amegakure had given Konan plenty of time to perfect it.

The first batch of butterflies flew north, heading towards the third floor of the main tower. They flew through one of the windows that Pein always left open for her and down the hall to the fourth door on the left. Then they folded back into perfectly straight pieces of paper, and slipped through the cracks around the door.

Kakuzu stood inside, his arms shooting around the room, throwing clothes and money into his suitcase. Konan wasn't surprised. Kakuzu didn't normally stay here for very long. Once he received his mission, he took off, impatient to collect his next bounty. His partner, Nadare, didn't have a choice. If you irritated Kakuzu, you died. They had yet to find a partner strong enough to work alongside him, although Konan was of the opinion that is wasn't strength you needed, it was a lack of sanity and intelligence. Luckily for now, there were plenty of gullible fools like Nadare, eager for promotion and unaware of what exactly they were getting themselves into.

Kakuzu noticed the paper, but didn't stop packing. His face, at least the part of it that was visible, was emotionless. The paper swirled around the centre of the room, until it came together, forming Konan's face.

"The sixth floor is out of bounds until further notice. Only a man named Baiu and I are allowed there. I trust you will inform Nadare as soon as possible."

Kakuzu's forehead creased just a little more, but he gave a gruff nod, and continued to pack. Konan separated into paper again, and flew back to her starting point.

* * *

The second batch of butterflies headed south, to a small dark one-story building. She flew inside and down two flights of stairs, stopping in front of a door marked NO ENTRY. A few of the butterflies broke off to form her Akatsuki ring. She waved it in front of the door handle, and heard the lock click. A second later, the door swung open, and she flew down another flight of stairs.

This room was dark, the only light coming from a dim bulb and some glowing, bubbling liquids sitting in the test tubes. In the centre of the room, Orochimaru and Sasori were leaning over a table. She couldn't see clearly what was on the table, but she could hear screaming.

She reformed her head again, and repeated the message. Sasori practically ignored her, focusing on whatever was on the table. Orochimaru stood up and gave her a sickening grin, assuring her that they understood. Konan made a mental note to keep a closer eye on his whereabouts.

Another scream came from the table, this time a plea for help. Orochimaru turned back to the table, and as he did Konan was able to see what was there. A young boy, around ten years old, was strapped down to the table. Konan could see that his stomach had been cut open, and Sasori was pouring a tube of purple liquid down his throat.

Konan left quickly after that, the boy's agonized screams still ringing in her ears. Every time she visited Orochimaru's laboratory, she left with the desire to take a long bath or shower. Even while living amongst the filthiest, most murderous criminals in the world, Orochimaru still repulsed her.

The second group of butterflies flew back to join with the first.

* * *

The third group of butterflies headed towards the fifth floor of the main building. This time, the window she chose led straight to Kisame. He and his partner Aoi was eating sushi. If her sense of humour hadn't withered and died many years ago, she might have made a comment. As it was, she simply repeated the message and left.

However, one thing she heard as she flew out the window made her decide to leave a butterfly under the windowsill. It seemed Kisame had something to say about her.

"What do you think of her?" she heard him ask, his tone light and playful. Since it was Kisame, 'playful' meant terrifying Aoi until he was a nervous wreck.

"Konan?" Aoi replied carefully "I don't really think anything of her. I mean, she's attractive, but… Leader's right hand, you know? I wouldn't really go there."

"Mm." Kisame seemed to agree. "It just makes a man wonder." He chuckled. "Look around Aoi, we're all freaks here, aren't we?"

"Uh," was Aoi's smart response. "We are?"

"Come now, you don't really think everyone in Kiri has my skin tone, do you?"

"Um," Aoi stammered. "I-I never really- Well, I guess they don't."

"Exactly," Kisame agreed. "Neither Kakuzu, Sasori or Orochimaru could be classified as 'normal' shinobi either, and Leader has those creepy eyes. But what's her thing? She seems normal enough. Professional, cold and dangerous, but normal. I'm just curious, you know? How did she end up here? Why is she Leader's right hand?"

"Does it matter?" Aoi asked.

"I suppose not." Kisame replied. "Still, if it wasn't for that mysterious vibe she's got going as well as Leader's protection, I would have probably fucked her a long time ago. It's not that often you meet a girl like her in our business, you know?"

"You think she'd want you?"

Kisame laughed unpleasantly.

"Again, Leader's protection. If she didn't have that, I wouldn't give a damn whether she wanted me or not, if you catch my drift."

Konan moved most of her consciousness back into steering the third group of butterflies. Kisame's talk was nothing new. He never said anything about her in front of Pein, but when he was away from him, he ran his mouth about her to all his partners. Konan was fairly sure he knew that she was spying on him, and just didn't care. It was entertaining to him. He knew they needed him, and so he knew she wouldn't take the bait.

But Konan was not one to idly sit by when someone insulted her pride. Although she could do nothing now, she had already made an agreement with Pein. If Kisame Hoshigaki was still alive when they achieved world peace, Konan would be given the first chance to kill him.

She didn't intend to fail.

* * *

That night, Sakura dreamt.

_She dreamt that she was standing in the middle of a bustling street. Someone was holding her hand, but she couldn't tell who it was. For some reason, she couldn't look upwards. She could hear the person's voice though. It was a woman._

_"Aren't you excited Sakura? You're at starting the Academy tomorrow! Remember, being a shinobi isn't fun and games, so listen to your instructors and follow their orders."_

_"Yeah, yeah." she heard herself say. "Oooh! Ice-cream! Can I have some?"_

The part of her that knew she was dreaming wondered what ice-cream was.

_"Not before you're dinner. You don't want Daddy to be mad at me, do you?"_

_She felt herself shake her head. They started walking, and Sakura looked around. People of all ages crowded the streets, most of them carrying bags of some sort. Others were wearing some sort of uniform: Blue trousers, a blue undershirt and a green, sleeveless jacket. Nearly everyone was taller than her._

_A flash of gold caught her eye, and she noticed a small boy with spiky blond hair standing ahead of her. He was staring into a shop window, but the minute she noticed him he turned and looked at her, almost as if he had known she was watching. He had bright blue eyes and marks like whiskers on his cheeks. He was wearing what had probably once been a white t-shirt, but had been worn into a dull grey colour. He wore green shorts and black sandals that both looked slightly too big for him._

_When he noticed her staring at him, she saw his eyes widen. He stared at her, and she stared back, unsure of what to make of this boy._

_He smiled hesitant and nervous, and she felt herself take a step forward. He looked at her in surprise, his eyes wide and hopeful. She took another step towards him, and his face split into a giant grin._

_Suddenly, she felt someone grab her arm and tug her away. She lost sight of the boy as she was dragged through the crowd._

_"Sakura! Don't ever go near that boy again! You hear me? He's dangerous!"_

_It was the same voice as before, except instead of being filled with warmth and love, it was filled with fear, and something ugly that she couldn't quite identify._

_She felt her head snap upwards, and finally, she could see the owner of the voice. It was a fair-skinned woman with shoulder-length, blonde hair and eyes a darker shade of green than Sakura's own. Her forehead was wrinkled, and she stared down at Sakura with concern written all over her face. She was wearing a white dress with three red circles on it. Sakura wondered what the symbol meant._

_The woman dragged her to a bench and sat her down._

_"I'm just going to nip into the liquor store for a minute. Stay here and don't move. If that boy comes near you, you run straight to me, got it?"_

_She felt herself nod. The woman stood up until Sakura could no longer see her face, and walked off. Sakura sat on the bench, swinging her legs._

_Suddenly, she felt something strange happen. It was like someone had punched a giant hole in her gut._

'You punched a hole in someone once.' _whispered a small reedy voice that seemed to echo round her mind._

_She saw the white dress coming towards her, and felt relieved. She would explain what was wrong, and the woman would help her._

_She looked up at the woman's face. It was filled with panic and terror, more than Sakura thought possible. This woman just seemed to ooze a natural serenity and seeing her this frightened was jarring._

_"Sakura! Sakura! Where are you?"_

_"I'm right here!" she tried to reply, but the woman didn't seem to hear her._

_"Sakura!" she screamed._

_Most of the people gave the hysterical woman a wide berth, but one of the men in uniform came towards them._

_"What seems to be the problem, miss?" he asked._

_"My daughter! My daughter's gone missing! I left her for a minute and now I can't find her!"_

_"I'm here!" Sakura called again, certain now that she was this woman's daughter._

_"Calm down ma'am." the uniformed man said "You know, there are a lot of people here. We'll look through the crowd and I'm sure we'll find her."_

_"She has bright pink hair! I would have seen her by now if she was anywhere nearby! It was that Uzumaki brat, he kidnapped her!"_

_The officer's face went cold and hard at the mention of 'Uzumaki'._

_"I assure you miss, that Naruto Uzumaki had no part to play in this incident. He is currently three streets down trying to buy tools for the Academy, much like all the five-year old boys are doing today."_

_"It was him, I know it!" she shrieked. _

_Then her voice dropped. _

_"You know what he is." she hissed. "We all know what he is, what he's capable of!"_

_The man simply looked bored._

_"As I said before, he is a five-year old _child._ We'll find your daughter as soon as possible, but I would advise you to steer clear of Naruto. The Hokage is quite fond of the boy, and wouldn't take kindly to people badmouthing him for no reason. I'll find your daughter for you as soon as possible. Try to stay calm."_

_The man vanished, and the woman collapsed crying on the street. Sakura stood beside her, yelling desperately at her._

_"I'm right here! Look, I'm touching your arm right now! Mommy please, I'm right here!"_

When she woke up the next morning, the only thing she remembered was the little boy's face, blue eyes staring at her curiously.

* * *

Miles away in the village of Konoha, the blond haired boy was also dreaming.

_He ran through the village streets, imagining that the people that passed him by were smiling and waving, not glaring and whispering._

_He screeched to a halt in front of the weapons shop, the same one he had visited that morning. Some small part of him remembered what was going to happen next, but in his dreamy haze that part seemed insignificant._

_A beautiful set of kunai were on display in the window. Naruto rubbed his hands gleefully; he had been saving up for months just to buy this set. Not even the Uchiha had kunai as nice as these!_

_He took a step inside the shop, and suddenly the owner was standing in front of him._

_"We're closed for the day." he said coldly._

_Naruto peeked around him. People were still standing inside the shop, picking up items and examining them. One was waiting at the counter._

_"But what about them?" he asked._

_"I said that we're closed." the man said, his eyes focused at a point above Naruto's head. _

_Naruto opened his mouth to argue, but the man had already turned around, and slammed the shop door in Naruto's face._

_Naruto stood outside, staring angrily at the kunai. What was the point of saving money like the Hokage told him to if no one would let him buy anything?_

_Suddenly, the back of his neck started to tingle, the way it did when someone was staring at him. He turned around and saw a small girl, around his age. She looked familiar, and the part of him that knew he was dreaming remembered seeing her when he had gone shopping that morning._

'She has pretty hair.'_ was the first thought that popped into his head._

_The girl walked closer to him. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, was she actually going to talk to him? No one talked to him!_

_As the girl got closer, Naruto noticed an orange glow surrounding her. As she walked towards him, she started to age. By the time she reached him, she had grown much, much taller than him. He had to crane his neck upwards to see her face. She looked terrified._

_Her mouth opened as if to scream, but instead orange bubbly liquid spilled out, soaking Naruto's clothes and making them feel unbearably heavy. He felt them dragging him down, and then he was falling through the earth, through fire, through darkness._

_He landed with a splash in front of a giant cage. He couldn't see what was inside it, but his instinct was screaming at him to run._

_The thing in the cage started laughing._

_It laughed and laughed. Dim red eyes appeared and started growing brighter. Naruto squinted, almost able to make out the shape-_

He woke up with a start, his eyes snapping open. The beast's laughter was still ringing in his ears.

He flipped his pillow onto the cool side and tried to go back to sleep. The monster had been scary, but only a dream. The girl on the other hand, was real. He remembered seeing her that morning, when he had been staring at the kunai. Only, instead of walking towards him, she had taken two steps before a woman had dragged her away. He wondered why he had dreamt about her, and why he had imagined such a scary monster.

Tomorrow, he decided, he would look for the girl. Maybe she would be in his class at the Academy! They could be friends!

With that cheerful thought, he fell back asleep

Unknown to both Naruto and Sakura, it would be seven years before they came face to face again.

**A/N Thanks for the reviews. If you have any thoughts, opinions or ideas, please tell me. Feedback is always appreciated.**


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